In 2022, approximately one third of the pre-tax profit of the world's largest WebSofts is taxed in low-tax countries, resulting in tax savings of 13.6 billion in 2022 and 50.7 billion cumulative in the four-year period 2019-2022.
Mediobanca investigates this scenario through its annual survey of the major global Software & Web groups.
Mediobanca's analysis
The study analyzes data from the first nine months of 2023 and the three-year period 2019-2022 of the 25 largest international WebSofts by revenue, of which 11 are based in the United States, ten in China, two in Germany and one each in Japan and South Korea.
On the savings podium we find Tencent, Microsoft and Alphabet which in the four-year period 2019-2022 managed to benefit from tax savings of €19.2 billion, €12.3 billion and €7.1 billion respectively.
These three Big Techs therefore represent over 70% of the total tax benefit.
During the Mediobanca survey, it emerged that for the first nine months of 2023, the turnover of the major global WebSoft operators grew by +10.6% compared to the same period of 2022. Among the best performances recorded by innovative services we have: sharing mobility (+23.8%), online travel sales activities (+20.4%), home delivery services (+19.3%). While the sectors with the greatest impact on turnover remain e-commerce (31%), advertising (23%) and cloud (16%).
Global Minimum Tax
After a discussion that lasted years, 139 countries, members of the OECD and the G20, agreed on the need to approve a global tax reform, the Global Minimum Tax, based on two pillars:
• a new system of taxation rights: large companies with a turnover above 20 billion euros and a profitability above 10% will be required to pay taxes even in the countries in which they operate before the application of taxation and not just where they have their registered office. The convention was approved by the OECD on 11 October 2023.
• a minimum effective tax rate of at least 15% for large multinational groups with global turnover exceeding 750 million euros to "reduce the possibility of erosion of the tax base and profit shifting".
The situation in Italy
WebSoft's presence in Italy is mainly in the North: Milan and its province are at the top.
The aggregate of Italian subsidiaries has a minimum representativeness compared to the global total of WebSoft: in 2022 the turnover reached 9.3 billion euros, employing over 26.4 thousand workers. Compared to 2019, there are over eleven thousand more employees, mostly hired by the Amazon Group, which boasts the largest number of employees in Italy (16,250 units in 2022).
From 1 January 2024, the Global Minimum Tax is also arriving in our country with a minimum tax of 15%, although it should be noted that the tax avoidance of international WebSofts damages the competitiveness of Italian companies and start-ups which must pay the taxes in full taxes.
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